NaNoWriMo ended a few weeks ago for me and when I reached that 50,000 word milestone, I was elated. I wasn't sure whether I had it in me to write another book. I know there are many good and bad things said about NaNoWriMo, but I did it because I wanted to feel involved and have some kind of incentive--a motivation--to write this new novel I've been tentatively plotting in my head for a year. However, I learned something very important: I cannot write a novel in a month.
I have precisely half of a first draft begging to be finished on my Macbook. Still, I've made a promise to myself that I will finish it.
As it was my first time participating in NaNoWriMo, I had to conduct some research prior to participating and I'm glad I did. It helped me keep on track and create rules for myself.
I thought I'd share some of my personal NaNoWriMo rules:
Plan
Plan your NaNoWriMo project out. Whether it be a short synopsis, a detailed summary, or a full blow detailed outline of each chapter like I did, just do some planning. Establish your characters a little and have at least a partially clear idea of what you're writing about. A murder? A zombie apocalypse? A girl who has to go on a journey to save her friend from the depths of Hell (that's actually a real book--EXCELLENT read!)
I grabbed a notebook (and pen) and over the course of two months, I wrote a summary for each chapter that I knew would happen. It didn't fill in my entire plot, but it helped me stay on track.
Keep A Writing Schedule
I do actually have a finished novel that I'm FINALLY looking into getting published. When I tell people this, sometimes they say that they wished that they had time to write a novel or that maybe one day they will. The truth is, you will never have time unless you make time. Prioritize. TV or write? Look at Facebook or write? Knit or write? You have more time than you think and with NaNoWriMo, make a schedule, stick to it, and write everyday that you can. No excuses.
Just Write
I honestly think the hardest part about writing a novel is finishing it. I know people who start a book and it's great for the first chapter or two, then WHAM! They don't know what to write or they just think that their writing sucks, or even more irritating is the intense urge to go back and edit.
My advice: don't do it! Don't go back and edit until your first draft is finished. Just write, no matter how bad you think your work is. I once made the mistake of going back to edit an unfinished first draft in a past writing project. It created problems because how can you edit the beginning if you don't even know how it ends? If you have this problem, know that it is a "writer thing." I can nearly guarantee you that every writer in the world experiences this at one time or another.
Even right now I'm experiencing that terrible feeling in my gut that every sentence I write in my NaNoWriMo novel is a collection of the worst sentences ever.
Just write. Don't look back. You can do it.
